Just a quick heads-up: "3:10 To Yuma" is on TCM tomorrow afternoon from 2:15 to 4:00 P.M. EST. Due to the fairly good word-of-mouth about it on here, I'll watch it if I can. As for tonight, I've got "Goodfellas" to check out.

Re-watched the movie. This is Glen Ford's movie, as it is to be expected. The sentimental parts do not go to the detriment of the plot, though there might have been some small cuts. The finale, well, let's say it is unsatisfactory. But who cares? One watches the movie for the Glen Ford character. Or at least I did. As I have said, I don't like Heflin, but can't come up with an alternative. Great dialogues.

Oh, and some time ago, I posted about the material in 3:10 that showed up in OUATITW (over in the 30 Westerns in Once thread):

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Finally saw 3:10 to Yuma. An interesting film that starts out strong but gets stupid as it goes along. Still, from the perspective of a Leoneaste, it is fascinating, and as far as this thread is concerned, represents a motherlode of references. There may be more quotations from it in OUATITW than from any other single film.

Before enumerating them, I should point out some general effects that Leone used not only in OUATITW but throughout his career. One is a particular shot of horses from the pov of a driver on a buckboard or coach; we see this used in GBU between the time Tuco and Blondie leave the mission and before they are captured by the blue bellies. We see a very similar shot in OUATITW on the drive from Flagstone to the trading post. The antecedent for these is a shot in 3:10 near the very beginning of the film when a stagecoach is held up by Glenn Ford and his gang.

Ford uses cattle to impede the progress of the coach, and the steers kick up a lot of dust. This gives the director, Delmer Daves, the opportunity to present something that would later become a signature Leone shot: men emerging from clouds of dust. GBU and OUATITW both include such shots, but Daves did it earlier.

Also, Daves uses a *lot* of crane shots, maybe even more than the master himself. He even uses what we might call a reverse crane shot: intead of beginning close to the actors and moving away, he sometimes begins high above and then swoops down for a closeup.

Now for some of the references specific to OUATITW. The most obvious one is the casting-against-type of the bad guy. Long before Fonda's Frank, there was Glenn Ford as a cold-hearted killer. Even though this didn't work very well (Daves establishes Ford's ruthlessness early on, but for the rest of the picture Ford defaults to his usual on-screen persona), it is an attempt to put an actor associated exclusively with good-guy parts in the role of a baddie.

Another nod to Daves is the use of music in OATITW. Particular themes recur, sometimes under a scene (available to the audience, but not to the characters)and sometimes within the scene (the characters can hear or even create the music). Both films employ a character associated with a certain piece of music performing that very piece of music: OUATITW has The Man With the Harmonica, and 3:10 has The Man With the Puckered Lips (Ford whistles the theme while semi-reclining, his hat pulled down over his eyes).

Then there is the plan in OUATITW to ship a captive outlaw to Yuma as a safety measure, the exact situation of 3:10.

Finally, the biggest quote of 3:10 in OUATITW is Frank's dangerous walk down the streets of Flagstone. In 3:10 Van Heflin must also negotiate a street overwatched by ambushers, and there is even a moment when a spotter (Henry Jones) shouts out a warning that enables Heflin to down a gunman before he is shot (followed by the appropriate stunt work). There are differences, of course (the spotter is in the street and Heflin, at that point, is up on the second floor of a building), but you only need to watch this sequence once to know what inspired Leone's similar (but much superior) scene.

These are the quotations that leapt out at me on my first viewing of 3:10. No doubt more can be found......

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I've read it a couple places, SWWB and IMDB, but it sounds like filming is starting on the remake of 3:10 to Yuma. Christian Bale is the Van Heflin character and Russell Crowe is the Glenn Ford villain character. I like both actors so I think this could be pretty good.

Ok watched this twice now and was struck by the B&W cinematography, its excellent (a shout out to Charles Lawton Jr.) The story has sort of a noirish feel to it all the interiors have an interesting use of shadows and quite a few of the exterior shots look like they were shot early in the morning or close to sundown the shadows thrown are long.

One of the best sequences is near the beginning when Ben Wade' s (Glen Ford) Gang rides into Bisbee Arizona and invades a saloon with Felicia Farr (a former dance hall/brothel chanteuse (that Wade knew from Dodge City) is the barkeep) Ford is excellent as the "good" bad guy and he sweetalks & charms himself into her pantaloons. By the time they disappear into the back room you get the feeling she is dripping with anticipaton. He begins to work his magic again later on on Van Heflins wife also.

Also check out the set design of the saloon interior, nice barrel bar!

But Rather than go into what has already been covered I'll add to dave jenkins comments

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Finally saw 3:10 to Yuma. An interesting film that starts out strong but gets stupid as it goes along. Still, from the perspective of a Leoneaste, it is fascinating, and as far as this thread is concerned, represents a motherlode of references. There may be more quotations from it in OUATITW than from any other single film.

I didn't find it that bad a story, it was plausible. There are quite a few quotes from this in OUTITW agreed

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Before enumerating them, I should point out some general effects that Leone used not only in OUATITW but throughout his career. One is a particular shot of horses from the pov of a driver on a buckboard or coach; we see this used in GBU between the time Tuco and Blondie leave the mission and before they are captured by the blue bellies. We see a very similar shot in OUATITW on the drive from Flagstone to the trading post. The antecedent for these is a shot in 3:10 near the very beginning of the film when a stagecoach is held up by Glenn Ford and his gang.

I'll add that there are also shots that have something in the immediate foregound and others that are looking through various objects.

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Ford uses cattle to impede the progress of the coach, and the steers kick up a lot of dust. This gives the director, Delmer Daves, the opportunity to present something that would later become a signature Leone shot: men emerging from clouds of dust. GBU and OUATITW both include such shots, but Daves did it earlier.

Also, Daves uses a *lot* of crane shots, maybe even more than the master himself. He even uses what we might call a reverse crane shot: intead of beginning close to the actors and moving away, he sometimes begins high above and then swoops down for a closeup.

You will notice this its very obvious, agreed.

Quote

Now for some of the references specific to OUATITW. The most obvious one is the casting-against-type of the bad guy. Long before Fonda's Frank, there was Glenn Ford as a cold-hearted killer. Even though this didn't work very well (Daves establishes Ford's ruthlessness early on, but for the rest of the picture Ford defaults to his usual on-screen persona), it is an attempt to put an actor associated exclusively with good-guy parts in the role of a baddie.

Yes this sequence could have been emphasized much better.

Quote

Another nod to Daves is the use of music in OATITW. Particular themes recur, sometimes under a scene (available to the audience, but not to the characters)and sometimes within the scene (the characters can hear or even create the music). Both films employ a character associated with a certain piece of music performing that very piece of music: OUATITW has The Man With the Harmonica, and 3:10 has The Man With the Puckered Lips (Ford whistles the theme while semi-reclining, his hat pulled down over his eyes).

Then there is the plan in OUATITW to ship a captive outlaw to Yuma as a safety measure, the exact situation of 3:10.

Finally, the biggest quote of 3:10 in OUATITW is Frank's dangerous walk down the streets of Flagstone. In 3:10 Van Heflin must also negotiate a street overwatched by ambushers, and there is even a moment when a spotter (Henry Jones) shouts out a warning that enables Heflin to down a gunman before he is shot (followed by the appropriate stunt work). There are differences, of course (the spotter is in the street and Heflin, at that point, is up on the second floor of a building), but you only need to watch this sequence once to know what inspired Leone's similar (but much superior) scene.

One more refrence to add is the arrival of the train, the sounds of the stean engine, the shots of the driving wheels, very similar

a great addition to a Western collection.

« Last Edit: May 24, 2007, 04:05:08 PM by cigar joe »

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"When you feel that rope tighten on your neck you can feel the devil bite your ass"!

Delmer Daves efficiently directs this classic psychological B/W Western that writer Halsted Welles adapted from a short story by Elmore Leonard. It's rather talky but always remains lively and tense, and its intelligent script turns it into a plausible character study of the poor family-man rancher and the bold womanizing outlaw--each wanting what the other doesn't have. It's ruined only by the false ending, where an unconvincing reason is given for the sudden change in character exhibited by the captured gang leader.

Rancher Dan Evans and his two sons, Matthew and Mark, while rounding up their stray cattle witness the notorious 12-man gang of Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) rob the stage of its gold shipment outside of Bisbee and kill the stage driver Bill Moons, who tried to get heroic and overtake a gang member. The gang heads into Bisbee, where they alert the marshal of the stage holdup. The gang scatters but the lonely leader pines for sad-eyed barmaid Emmy (Felicia Farr), and gets taken prisoner when he's caught off-guard after romancing her. The problem is for the inadequate law enforcement personnel to transport the dangerous outlaw so he gets on the 3:10 to Yuma. The marshal figures the gang will jump them, so he comes up with a diversionary plan to have two volunteers take Ben to Contention City to wait for the train while the empty stage becomes the focus of the gang. When no one volunteers, the well-fed overweight stage owner, Mr. Butterfield, offers $200. The rancher, about to go under because of the drought, accepts for the money, which is the exact amount he needs to pay another rancher to draw water; while the town drunk, Alex Potter, accepts to redeem himself.

The volunteers have Ben holed up in a hotel as they tensely wait for the train, while the cool, smooth-talking Ben offers $10,000 to Dan if he lets him go. Ben also warns that the gang will be there and the townfolks will desert him, leaving him alone to face the gang. The offer is tempting, but Dan turns it down after watching the dead stage driver's funeral procession pass through town.

The tension increases when a drunken Bob Moons finds out where the man who killed his brother is being held and tries to kill him, but is overtaken by Dan. But his shot alerts the gang's lookout, Charlie (Richard Jaeckel), who quickly brings the gang to town. They kill Alex and string him up in the hotel lobby, and threaten to kill Dan unless he frees the prisoner. Dan's worried wife Alice arrives to tell her hard-working hubby to forget about the money. But the failing rancher can't turn his back on his civic duty and attempts to get Ben on the train, even if he loses his life. He rationalizes that even the town drunk gave his life so that others could live in peace.

Van Heflin and Glenn Ford give top-notch performances, in a film that closely follows the example of the 1952 High Noon formula.

Just saw a TV ad for the remake. Looks like they've kept the assassins-on-the-roof concept that Leone borrowed for OUATITW. It will be interesting to see if anything distinctively Leone gets added back into the new mix.

« Last Edit: July 25, 2007, 12:22:59 AM by dave jenkins »

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That's what you get, Drink, for not appreciating the genius of When You Read This Letter.